As you probably know by now Francis is the new pope. He was elected yesterday and chose the name Francis. Catholic Officials are pointing out that he is Francis and not Francis the First.

Father Ivan Trujillo of Resurrection Parish in Batavia and a native of Bolivia says he is very excited about the announcement. As a Jesuit, Father Ivan says the new pope has a broader understanding of mission work. Father Ivan Trujillo says he was impressed with Pope Francis from the start.

Patrick Burk who has served 27 years on the Batavia School District Board of Education and whose term is expiring has announced he will seek another term. Burk says with consolidation and everything changing over the job isn’t done and he says that job is never done. Steve Mountain who has served two terms will not seek re-election. Anyone interested in running for the Batavia School Board can pick-up a petition which is available at the district’s administrative office at the high school at 260 State Street. You have until April 24th at 4pm to submit the petition.

A decision has been made to demolish the old Wiss Hotel at the corner of Routes 5 and 19 in LeRoy. The LeRoy Village Board voted 3 to 2 to accept a bid submitted from Empire Dismantlement Corporation of Grand Island for 132 thousand dollars. LeRoy mayor Greg Rogers, who was one of the two dissenters, says a preliminary plan of some sort will be in place by the second Village Board meeting in April. The money for the project will come from village reserves.

Bill Wade, the girls Basketball Coach at Batavia High School has announced that he is retiring from that position. Wade who is 61 says he is ready to just watch the games and not coach them. He was been the Lady Blue Devils coach for the past 5 years and had previously coached the girls teams at Byron-Bergen, Notre Dame, and SUNY Brockport. The Batavia Girls were in the Section Five finals for the first time ever this year. Wade says he made the decision last fall and then made the announcement last night at the Girls Basketball Banquet at Bohn’s Restaurant.

The theft of a 9.99 package of cupcakes from Tim Horton’s has left a Bethany woman in trouble. 27 year old Melissa Morton of the West Middlebury Road was arrested following a nearly one week investigation into the tasty theft. She will appear in Batavia City Court on March 19th to answer to the petit larceny charge.

Two persons were arrested in separate shoplifting incidents at the Batavia K-Mart this week. Both 19 year old Samantha Kent of the East Shelby Road in Oakfield and 23 year old Mindy Miller of Clay Street in LeRoy have both been charged with petit larceny.